Soft Technology

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Allowing our youngest learners access to technology is so important in today's classrooms. These students are digital natives, and many are using tablets and other devices each day in their homes. Teaching them how to use these devices as tools to create, make and do (rather than just play and watch) can be important part of their day. I loved providing my kindergartners with access to iPads as a way to document their learning, take pictures of their creations, and share their voices as they told me stories or read books aloud. Publishing this work to an authentic audience and sharing with parents was a beloved and essential part of our routine in kindergarten. Teachers often ask me what some of my favorite apps to use with young learners (K-2) are. Here is a list of my Top 5 Favorites. You can see a more extensive list in this P articipate Learning Collection . Seesaw This digital learning journal has embedded tools and allows students to publish both digital and physical work to...

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Wahoo! Heather Marrs & I have arrived at ISTE 2018! Thanks to generous grants from Montana MCCE and the Education Foundation for BPS , I had the amazing opportunity to attend the 2018 ISTE Conference in Chicago this past summer. Attending ISTE was such an incredible time to connect with edtech teacher leaders from across our country, and learn from the best of the best.  I especially enjoyed being a part of the first ever Seesaw Connect event, where I was able to learn about gamified classrooms from Heather Marrs , explore innovative PD options with Andy Lesier , and delve deeper into #BookSnaps with Tara Martin . It was amazing to meet so many teachers I had connected with via Twitter, and be able to share and learn one with one another in person. The Seesaw Connect Amazing Race was super fun, and I loved leading a job alike session with other tech integration specialists and coaches who use Seesaw. This event and helping out in the Seesaw booth at the ISTE Expo Hall were ...

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This project was so much fun! Inspired by Brigitte Hollohan , we used the DoInk Green Screen app ($2.99) to take photos of each student in Mrs. Parisien's first grade in front of an image of Santa in the night sky. We used this image, but you could use any you like. It would be really fun to let students make their own using the Make a Scene: Christmas app ($2.99). Once the pictures were taken, we could have done any number of things with them! Print them for cute Christmas cards or gifts, add to Seesaw and type or tell their story, create a collage in PicCollage Kids ... really the possibilities are endless! We decided to have each student write a Dear Santa letter using this cute FREE template , then load all the photos into Book Creator app, and have students read their "Dear Santa" letters onto each page. It easily shared to Seesaw, and turned out absolutely adorable!

Broadwater teachers Mrs. Bishop & Mrs. Romei had this AWESOME idea to digitize the Project Lead the Way activities using the app Book Creator . This allowed students to complete the books digitally, then upload finished books to Seesaw to share with one another and their families. Check out the example below, and continue reading to access the templates to share with your students. The following activities from the 1st grade Project Lead the Way light & sound unit have been digitized into Book Creator book templates by Mrs. Bishop . You can access the templates to use with your own students by clicking the links below. Activity 1.2 Sound Activity 1.3 Light & Sound Project 4 Light Investigation For instructions on opening these epub files in Book Creator, click the image below. These instructions were adapted from Sara Malchow ! 

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